NEWSDUMP – Fandom News – catchup list part 2 (7-22-16)

by Patch O'Furr

There hasn’t been a Newsdump in a long time, so have three updates packed with two months of stuff:

1. Furries in the Media. 2. Fandom News. 3. Fur-friendly Culture.

Furscience.com releases ebook of furry research.

The International Anthropomorphic Research Project has a shiny new website since earlier this year. Here’s a good reason to check it out – a 174-page ebook full of 5 years of data about furry fandom, for the low price of free. Download it here.

Fred Patten interviewed by Yiffytimes.com.

“My interview with Fred Patten” by Ahmar Wolf and Greyflank. With Fred’s history as a founder of Furry (and anime) fandom, it’s really interesting to hear this:

“Q: Where do you see the Furry Fandom headed?

A: Furry fandom is already a lot different than it was in the 1980s. There is much more emphasis on wearing fursuits, adopting fursonas, and embracing and publicly exhibiting a furry identity. There is also a furry literary community now, which is what I’m active in. A few furry fans who are publishers or fursuit makers or artists are able to make their living in furry fandom instead of it only being a hobby for them.”

Furries at San Francisco Pride.

New furry Whup stepped up in a big way to organize a booth. (He’s yellow dog in the first pic). Apart from a big “Bay Area Furries” banner, it was a very informal base for breaks from the sun. There was a huge crowd to prowl around with on a hot day. Street Fursuiting is my favorite thing, and street fairs are my favorite place for it, and Pride in SF is one of the most fun and accepting times. (It’s far from the only one – a furry in Edmonton talks about their float full of furries in “A big thanks to the furries out in pride festivals this month!“)

“This is Underbite from Culturally F’d. I’m currently in the process of writing a mini-series on mascots/fursuits. One of the episodes was pretty well intended to be taken straight from your article on pantomime. We will likely get you to review the scripts.

FURRIES: The Documentary, at Frameline film fest in San Francisco.

Earlier announced for Pride month, ‘Furries’ screened at Frameline, the oldest ongoing festival for LGBT cinema that draws as many as 80,000 people. Director Eric Risher (Ash) had many Bay Area Furries come to his movie screening. He shares:

“I think it was a really great screening, and I’m really happy with how the film was received. I wanted to make sure I sent you a link to the photos that were taken at the event (they got some REALLY good ones). The full album can be found here.“

“Fursonas” director Dominic Rodriquez talks about Anthrocon:

Dom’s movie also screened at Frameline, but recognition was not so friendly in Pittsburgh. He was banned at Anthrocon for filming. That didn’t stop his movie from screening at another venue during the biggest annual furball – a bit of a renegade happening! I asked Dom to talk about being a black sheep:

“The Friday night screening of Fursonas during Anthrocon did not have a big turnout–there were no more than a dozen people in the theater. But the Q&A afterwards ended up being one of the best ones we’ve had. The few furs and non-furs that did show were passionate about the ideas brought up in the film and discussed them at length with me and Boomer. One Anthrocon attendee that didn’t agree with everything in the movie was, nevertheless, enthusiastic about it. He told me that he was glad he actually watched the thing instead of basing his opinion on rumors about it.

I spent the majority of that weekend walking around downtown, hanging out in bars and hotel rooms, and talking to new and old friends. Most of what I do at cons is talk with friends, anyway. That’s not something that they have in the Programming, but I think it’s the most important part. And it’s not something they can ban you from. This was my best Anthrocon yet, and I wasn’t even there.”

“a 25 minute mockumentary mainly told with fursuiters. A mockumentary is a semi documentarty, which means, while the way of telling the story is obviously a serious documentary, the topic itself is clearly a fake one. It’s about Willion, a young mascot who dreams of more then just being an ordinary mascot. He wants to play in the big league…”

JBadger passed away on May 28, 2016. This greymuzzle attended sci-fi cons as long ago as the 1970’s, went to his first furry party in 1986, and staffed other cons. His real-life obituary prominently mentions his fursuiting that entertained many. A scan was posted to a Facebook group dedicated to his memory which has much furry content.